


Elizabeth

by FriendLey



Series: Forever [16]
Category: Madam Secretary
Genre: College, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-21
Updated: 2019-01-21
Packaged: 2019-10-13 20:05:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,550
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17494439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FriendLey/pseuds/FriendLey
Summary: An attempt to explain why Henry calls his wife Elizabeth and not Bess like everybody else.





	Elizabeth

Bess winced at the sound of piles of books falling to the ground.

The smack and thud of paperback and hardbound books were like cannon balls, flying through the air in the too quiet library.

Bess stood shock-still waiting for the all too common "Ssh" or one of the librarians in this floor of the library to come and investigate on the noise.

But nobody came.

Bess let out a sigh of relief.

Luckily for her she was in between the rows of bookshelves and nobody was around to see her blunder and her abuse of the books.

Sitting down cross legged on the floor, Bess started to get all the books in order.

She didn't even need most of these. They had simply fallen when she pulled a book that was tightly lodged in between other books, causing that illegal sound... Well, illegal in a library, anyway.

"Hey, did you hear something?"

Bess let out a startled gasp.

She looked up. A guy with sandy hair and kind eyes was standing right before her, concerned.

Her cheeks felt very warm at having been caught after all.

"That was me. Sorry." Bess gestured to the books all around her. "I had a bit of an accident. Please don't tell the librarian! They already gave me a warning for sneaking a granola bar in here yesterday!"

The guy raised his hand, palm facing her. "I heard absolutely nothing."

Bess smiled gratefully.

He gestured to the books. "Mind if I help?"

She shook her head.

The guy then came forward and crouched beside her, picking up the books that had fallen farther from where Bess sat.

He handed over his gathered books before he spotted something else.

He picked up a card on the ground.

"You dropped this too," he said, briefly looking at the ID card.

"Ooh. Wouldn't want to get caught without that." Bess hooked the ID on her pants' belt loop.

"Thank you...?"

"Henry. And you're welcome, Elizabeth."

Bess blinked. Nobody called her Elizabeth except her brother and her parents. And she hadn't wanted anyone aside from Will to call her that ever since the accident.

She was Bess to everyone else.

"How did you—right." Bess tapped her ID.

She decided against correcting him. They just met after all.

The guy nodded. "Do you still need help carrying your books to check out? Just to, you know, avoid another incident which didn't happen by the way."

Bess turned to stare at the pile of books and then back to Henry.

"Oh, I'm not... I only just need the one," she lifted the book she needed. "The rest just wanted to cause a scene."

"I'll help return them then."

Normally, Bess would have waved off the help. She could totally return a pile of books by herself.

But the guy  _was_  cute. And he  _did_ offer.

Bess accepted his help and as the last book went back on the shelf, she thanked Henry.

"Not a problem. I'm just glad I decided to go and find out what that sound was," he said smiling.

Was that a come on?

It totally was.

"Me too." Bess bit the inside of her cheek. Then, she asked, "Hey, do you want to get a sandwich? I'll pay. A little thanks for the help and for not ratting me out."

Henry chuckled. "Sure, yeah. I'll just grab my things. Meet you at check out?"

_6 months later_

Elizabeth deepened the kiss, the book she wanted pressed against Henry's chest, her hand keeping it in place.

They were in the library, hiding behind one of the bookshelves, not at all unlike how they first met.

There was a cough, a sort of clearing of throat, causing Elizabeth and Henry to step away from each other, the book falling to the floor.

"Shit." Elizabeth picked it up quickly, grateful that her hair hid the look of mortification on her face.

Just as she was about to apologize to the librarian, a familiar voice said, "Elizabeth Adams, the library is a place for research not make out sessions."

Her brother stood with his arms crossed and gave her a look of feigned disappointment.

Elizabeth let out a huff, half in annoyance, half in relief at the fact that it wasn't the librarian. She slapped the book on her brother's arm.

"You scared the hell out of me!"

Will only laughed. "Good. 'Cause when I asked you if you wanted to have lunch, you said you couldn't because you were gonna study." He wiggled his eyebrows at Henry.

"I am!" Elizabeth said, raising the book as evidence.

Will snorted. "More like studying this guy's lips." He held his hand out to Henry. "Hi, I'm Will, Elizabeth's brother."

"Younger brother," Elizabeth corrected as her boyfriend and brother shook hands.

Henry, thank God, was not at all intimidated at the prospect of meeting her family and instead had an amused look on his face.

"Henry McCord, nice to finally meet you. Elizabeth would talk about you sometimes. Pre-med, right?"

"Yep. Elizabeth, huh?" Will eyed her sister who rolled her eyes.

"Shut up. It's my name." It's true. She  _was_  born Elizabeth Adams.

"Riiiight."

Henry decided they could all move the reunion outside the library lest they incur the wrath off the librarian for real this time.

They all ended up right by the sandwich stand again. Elizabeth joined the queue of customers while Will and Henry stood further back waiting for her.

"So, how long have you been dating my sister?" Will asked.

"Oh, around maybe 5, 6 months. She's great!"

"And you call her Elizabeth," Will said suspiciously.

Henry frowned. "It  _is_  her name, yeah. Why is something wrong?"

"Oh, nothing," Will shrugged. "Aside from the fact that it was a name she grew to hate and decided to just go by Bess for the rest of her life."

"Really?" Henry crossed her arms and looked at his girlfriend who was talking to the sandwich man at the stand. "Well, she never mentioned it to me.  _You_ call her Elizabeth."

"'Cause she's my sister and I had been calling her that before she decided to change her name." Will clasped his hands together. "But it's nothing to worry about. It's just a little weird hearing somebody who's not me call her that, you know. Not since… Nevermind."

But Henry didn't want to drop it. Elizabeth hated her name? Since when?

He was about to ask exactly that when Will brightened at seeing Elizabeth coming back and they didn't speak about names again until later that night when Henry was walking Elizabeth back to her dorm.

"So, Will's pretty cool," Henry said to her.

"Yeah? He said he liked you too. And I'm really glad he does." Elizabeth linked her arm to his. "He could use an older brother, you know someone to look up to. Older sisters aren't really model material."

Henry chuckled, and then remembering his conversation with Will that day, decided to risk the inquiry.

"May I ask you something?"

"Shoot."

"Do you like being called Elizabeth?"

Elizabeth suddenly stopped walking and looked at him. "What?"

"It's just your brother said something."

She narrowed her eyes at Henry and became tense. "What did he say?"

"Just that you hated your name. Do you? It would make sense. Everybody calls you Bess."

Elizabeth pressed her lips together and then started walking again.

Henry didn't miss the fact it was probably so she wouldn't have to look at him as she answered.

"You don't have to answer," Henry hurried to say. "I'm just concerned cause I may have been calling my girlfriend using a name she hates."

"I did. Hate it, I mean," Elizabeth finally said, still avoiding looking at him. "Only my parents and Will called me Elizabeth."

And that's when Henry understood.

"And then they died. That's what he meant." Henry's gaze softened. "Babe, I'm so sorry."

"It was easier being Bess after that."

"Why didn't you tell me you disliked being called Elizabeth? I would've stopped."

Elizabeth stopped walking again and finally faced him. "No! Don't. I mean, it was weird the first time, like a bucket of cold water to the head. But... We had only just met, I didn't want to correct you cause you were being so nice helping me out with the books. And then we went out on dates and you still called me Elizabeth, and... It wasn't annoying or painful because when you say my name, my legal name, somehow it's comforting. Makes me feel light and at home, like how it used to be with my parents. Ever since they died, I felt like… I was Bess for a long time and then you came along and… I was Elizabeth again. So don't ever stop, do you hear me, Henry McCord?"

Henry nodded, stepping into her space and slipping his arms around her waist to hug her.

"But 'Babe' is fine, right?"

"Oh, yeah, totally."

Henry pulled back and tipped her chin up. "Elizabeth."

"See? It's just... Sexier when you say it."

"Oh, I see how it is." They chuckled. "Elizabeth?"

"Yes, Henry?"

"I'm really glad I went to see what that noise was."

"Same here."

He kissed the top of her head and they continued the walk home.


End file.
